I truly love holiday season and one of my favorite parts is having everyone together for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. I am excited to see everyone and to serve new dishes and desserts as well as old favorites.

Although I love cooking, I don’t love unreliable appliances or spending all my pre-holiday time in the kitchen. Holidays can be a hectic time for cooking and entertaining in the days leading up to and including the holidays.

Is it weird that I get excited when it’s time to buy new appliances?  I’ve been scoping out some of the latest technologies including induction cooking which is often safer, cleaner and cooler. You can even boil water in less than two minutes and, with induction, spills don’t burn on which reduces clean up time.

Check out the new Frigidaire FGIF3061NF. This Frigidaire range also includes a convection oven which circulates the air in the oven for quicker baking time.

Another great cooking innovation are double ovens that let you cook two dishes at two different temperatures. Not only that, but they still fit within the space of a standard range like the Whirlpool WGG555S0BS. Where have you been all my life?

All of this new tech will allow you to get the food prepared preciesely the way you want it and save you time so you can spend it with the ones you love.

Whether that means tossing a football around in the backyard, watching football, catching up on the latest or just joking around, time with friends and family is time well-spent.

Learn more at bestbuy.com/holidayprep.

Disclosure: The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free, however all opinions are strictly my own.

I can remember being in high school and getting ready for prom. I was a junior in Boston and my boyfriend was a senior in New York. It was all very exciting and exhilarating. I remember that I absolutely had to have my best friend, Jenn, with me to pick out my prom dress.

We spent hours talking about hairstyles and trying on makeup! When she went to prom the next year, I helped her pick out a gorgeous pink dress and it was just as much fun as when I bought my own!

Since then, college, work and life has taken me away from Jenn, but, eventually we both ended up back in Boston. She is still someone I love to share beauty secrets and tips with. I think we laugh even more than we used to.  She calls me when she finds something new whether it’s a shampoo that I just have to try or a new flavor of gelato!

I text her when I am in a store and find a great sale like today!

Right now, starting today, October 1, Walgreens is having a fantastic NEXXUS Beauty Sale.

Since Walgreen’s is right down the street from me, I am always there it seems. Now is a great time to save big on NEXXUS hair products during their exclusive Beauty Sale. I’ve always loved NEXXUS products and consider them to be among the best out there and they are reasonably priced.

I used NEXXUS in high school and I use it today as well. I recently tried their Hydra-Light Shampoo and Conditioner because I wanted to add moisture to my dry hair without having it be weighed down. It has deep-sea minerals and coconut oil and smells lovely. I’m a fan!

You can save $4 on participating NEXXUS hair products at Walgreens stores when you refer this special offer to your friends, or you can keep this offer for yourself and still save $2.  This is an offer to buzz about!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post with Global Influence and Walgreens, however, all opinions are expressly mine.

Every year around back-to-school time, I find myself recommending CampusBookRentals! With the cost of college these days, any way to save money is a welcome alternative!

Textbooks are such a huge expense for students and parents and they often never get looked at after the semester is over. I wish CampusBookRentals were around when I was in college! I would have loved to use the extra funds for concerts, clothes, food and trips to visit family and friends.

Are you or your kids in College this Fall? Here are some perks from CampusBookRentals:

You can save a whopping 40-90% off of bookstore prices.
You get free shipping both ways so it really couldn’t be easier or cheaper (You get a prepaid return envelope).
They have flexible renting periods and awesome customer service.
You can highlight in the textbooks! (Yes, you can underline, make notes, whatever you like!)

And, another great benefit is that with each textbook rented, the company makes a donation to Operation Smile. Operation Smile is a wonderful organization that performs life changing cleft lip surgeries on children whose families could not otherwise pay for it. The long term improvement in quality of life for the children that receive these surgeries is incredible.

CampusBookRentals is one of the pioneers of the textbook rental movement which began in the summer of 2007, so they really do know their business.

Since then, they’ve rented over 1,000,000 textbooks at over 5500 campuses nationwide.

They’ve been mentioned in the New York Times, CNN, the Wall Street Journal and Newsweek and have the largest selection in the nation.

In addition, CampusBookRentals now has a new program, RentBack.

RentBack is a new initiative that lets students rent the textbooks they own – to other students… which is pretty incredible because it makes them 2-4x more money compared to what they’d make through buyback options! (selling their books back at the end of the semester)

You can check it out in this brief video!

Be inventive and do More with Your Dollars!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post for CampusBookRentals, however all opinions are completely mine.

Welcome to the Happy Harvest Giveaway Hop! Apple cider, pumpkin pie and Halloween! It’s Fall and we always love a reason to celebrate here. This event is hosted by MamaNYC and there are a lot of fun prizes to be won! Take your time and hop around as you will have until October 12! Enjoy and best of luck!

Here at Strange Daze Indeed, it’s time for some new Fall clothes for your favorite little one! We’re giving away anything worth $25 (approximately) at Tea Collection so the choice is yours – boys, girls, it’s all up to you!

I adore buying gifts here as they have such cute outfits! Here are some ideas:

There are lots more to choose from!

This is one of my favorites!

Your item will be shipped directly from Tea Collection and I will, of course, cover shipping as well. If yours is a dollar or two over, don’t worry.

This giveaway ends October 12 at 11:59 pm and is open to US residents!

Have a wonderful fall my friends!

Disclosure: This giveaway is sponsored by Strange Daze Indeed and not by Tea Collection. I just happen to love them!   

Bohemian Desert Collection

The Bloominous story began in 2012 when one of the co-founders and his wife were planning their wedding.  With high hopes for a beautiful ceremony & reception, the couple found it difficult to stay within their budget without sacrificing on flowers and design.  They began looking for alternative options and found the growing trend of DIY weddings.  After spending hours researching different designs, blooms, and prices, they realized the hours it would take to learn to put together the arrangements and buy the flowers on their own made this infeasible.

Their options were limited. They could pay the premium to get professionally designed arrangements or take the risk of DIY with no assurance of pulling it off.

And, this was the start of a bloomingly beautiful idea!

Over the past year, they have been working side-by-side with people to truly understand their DIY needs and desires at a price they could afford. And, they have created Bloominous.com, the one-stop shop solution to any floral problem.

They will put together everything from florals to vases to instructions in order for you to be easily able to create your own bouquets, centerpieces and boutonnieres.

Personally, I am in madly in love with the Bohemian Desert Collection which fits my whimsical free-spirited nature.

They also have Party Pop, Vintage Cottage, Country Charm and Eco Chic Collections. So next time you are planning an event, why not check them out.  They will be adding new collections each month.

Welcome to the It’s a Free for Fall Giveaway Hop, hosted by the Blogging Mamas Network.

It’s Fall and there’s a new crispness in the air. From school to holidays, there’s lots to look forward to, so we’re celebrating  with a fun giveaway hop. Each blogger in the hop has a prize for you worth at least $25, so hop around to them all in the linky at the bottom of this post and enjoy!

So you’re driving down the road and you see a field with a herd of cows. You stop the car, get out, gaze into their big soft eyes and wonder what they’re thinking.

Did you know that cows are naturally social animals and form large herds. They make friends and bond with some herd members and avoid others. I can relate.

The typical cow stands up and sits down about 14 times a day and has almost total 360-degree panoramic vision. Like most Moms with eyes in the back of their heads. Though most Moms get up and down a whole lot more.

Cows have a great sense of smell and can smell something up to 6 miles away. I suppose that can be good as well as bad.

A Holstein’s spots are like a fingerprint. No two cows have exactly the same pattern of black and white spots. They are all different! And what’s more….Cows have feelings too!

Cows love Udderly Smooth because, seriously, who wants rough hands grabbing you! I mean, come on, it’s bad enough with the wind and rain without someone mindlessly tugging on you.

Udderly Smooth Udder Cream was originally invented in Ohio for use on dairy cows under harsh conditions.  Family owned and operated, Redex Industries, has manufactured Udderly Smooth products for over 30 years.

Manufactured in Salem, Ohio, under the direct guidance of Bill Kennedy, CEO and Registered Pharmacist, though originally invented for use on cows, these products are now widely used for dry and chapped skin.

So mooving right along here, I want to tell you why I love Udderly Smooth and why I keep featuring them on my blog and partnering with them on giveaways so that more of you can try them or win some products.

Well, you know how there are complicated skin creams. They promise everything from anti-aging to weight loss. They often appear on huge billboards and cost a fortune. But, that doesn’t mean they are good. Not at all.

Give me a company that’s family owned and operated, that seriously cares about their customers and responds to each one. Give me a line of products that are uncomplicated, that work wonderfully and don’t cost a fortune. I love the smell. No harsh perfumes here, but, a lovely mild clean scent like clothes fresh from the dryer. Creams and lotions that absorb quickly but are not greasy.

Over the time that I have known them and worked with the folks at Udderly Smooth, they are not just a company to me, they are friends.

These are the products I go back to again and again. These are the products I recommend without any reservations.

Udderly Smooth Products are good for many different uses.

Here are a few:

* Dry and chapped skin
* As a shaving lotion
* Diabetes skin care
* Hand and Foot Syndrome- a side effect of chemotherapy drugs
* Chamois cream for bicyclists
* Needlework and quilting

Check out the website for more information! They’re always coming up with something new.

I don’t know about you, but, after a summer of running a bit amuck, swimming in pools and the ocean and generally spending much more time outside, my skin is dry, beat up, and could use some love to get ready for the new season.

Our prize here, today, at Strange Daze Indeed, is a package filled with Udderly Smooth Goodies including Udderly Smooth Hand and Body Lotion, Udderly Smooth Body Cream, Udderly Smooth Shea Butter Foot Cream, Udderly Smooth Hand Cream, Udderly Smooth Vitamin E Cream and more.

  And…

   of course, they are  throwing in an udderly fabulous cow mug!

Yay!

So Easy Being Green, Viva Veltoro, the Blogging Mamas Network, and the Free for Fall participating bloggers are not responsible for sponsors who do not fulfill prize obligations.

Fall is just around the corner and I can smell it in the air!  Fall is one of my favorite seasons.  I love the crisp air, the way the landscape slowly paints itself in bright reds, oranges, and yellows.  I love taking a road trip in New England to see the changing foliage.  It’s time for jumping into piles of leaves, putting on sweatshirts and warm jackets and celebrating my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving!